5 Tips to Increase Your Energy and Motivation to Thrive in Life & Business with Michele Riechman
Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show. I’m your host, Amanda Tento. And I’m here with the lovely Michelle Riechman. And we are going to talk today about five steps to increase your energy and motivation to thrive in life and business.
So welcome Michele, before we get started on these five amazing tips, go ahead and tell us about you and how you got started in what you’re doing.
“So I have a doctorate in physical therapy and a personal trainer and health coach. So I’m also a mom of four. So I just found it hard when I was a mom to work out and eat healthily. So I’ve established different habits. And I just love sharing that with other moms so that they can keep it simple, get healthy and get back in shape. “
We all need that. And I especially think as we add more children, at least for me, as I’ve added more children through the years, it gets harder and harder. When I first had my first daughter, I was back in my shape within a year. And then of course, as soon as I lost all that weight, I immediately got pregnant, and it was like okay, then that’s gonna happen. So then, and then you do it again. And then you have to the second one, I was like, it was way harder. And the third one, I still haven’t done it.
“Definitely, I really struggled after my third one. And especially since those two were only 18 months apart and just having two little ones so close in age. And it’s just hard to find the time. “
It is because you constantly like keeping them occupied. It’s not even like playing with them. It’s just okay, it’s snack time. It’s nap time. It’s lunchtime. It’s you know, like, every time it’s all of the time right now all the time. So let’s go ahead and talk about the five ways that we can keep that motivation going and increase our energy.
“ As I go through these tips, if you’re listening to moms, I want you to pick one tip to start with so that you don’t get overwhelmed because that will crush your motivation right there if you try to do all of them. And everybody’s different. So I want you to constantly experiment and notice how things make you feel and maybe even write it down.
“Noticing if you do this, does that actually help because you’re going to want to find out what works for you because what works for you is not going to work for someone else. So my first tip is to eat a balanced meal. So this means having some protein and healthy fat in it. Because if you’re used to eating really quick carbs and processed foods, that’s going to spike your blood sugar, and then your energy is going to crash.
“We really want to create stable blood sugars so that you can have more energy and you’re not having those dips and crashes. Just like we say with our kids we like if we give them a candy bar, we know they’re going to have that sugar rush, and then their energy is going to bottom out. And the same thing that happens to us when we’re eating processed foods is those quicker carbs.”
“Adding protein with whatever you’re eating can help balance those blood sugars and even a little bit of healthy fat. And another thing to go along with meals here is making sure that you’re eating enough at your meal. So you’re not snacking all day, especially if you’re someone who’s like sitting down at a desk or you’re at home and you’re just constantly grabbing a bite here and there, you really want to fill up a little bit more at meals.
“So you’re not just like constantly grabbing food and feeling like you need that little spike of energy. So letting that natural flow of the body of eating every few hours. And that exact time will vary for everybody. But just having those meals with balanced nutrients in them will really help to increase your energy when you’re consistent with that.
That’s a great idea. Do you have a super easy meal that you can think of? That’s so easy. It takes five minutes to make and it’s healthy. That combines those three.
“I have a lot of leftovers. Just has enough leftovers from dinner to have the next day. And like right before this, I had an apple with peanut butter. So peanut butter has that protein and that healthy fat in it. And all you do is cut it up and eat it and it’s good.
Awesome. I love that. I love apples and peanut butter too. So that’s great. Awesome.
“All right. So tip number two is to stay hydrated. So when we’re not staying hydrated, we get sluggish, we can get headaches and our brain just won’t function as well. We won’t think as well, we won’t feel as good. So having that water near you and just getting sips throughout the day can really be helpful.
“And if you don’t know where to start with water, I typically tell people about half your body weight ounces. So if you’re 150 pounds, that’s going to be about 75 ounces. So that is a starting point to go from. And again, this goes back to noticing how you feel. So if you’re drinking that 75 ounces, how do you feel you could go up a little bit, you could even go down a little bit.”
“But really finding where you feel good because you’re drinking enough, and you’re talking for long enough because if you’re not drinking enough water, you’re going to be more hungry. And then it’s really important, you’re going to need a cue to remember to drink because this is where everybody falls, oh, I know, I need to drink more water, but you don’t remember, one, just getting that cup in the morning and having that cup out and taking it with you. And then maybe setting a phone reminder, because you’re going to have to build that habit till it becomes a habit.”
“So you’re gonna have to rely on something else. And another great way is to stack that habit with something you’re already doing. So maybe every time you pick up your phone, you’re gonna get to drink water, or every time you check an email, get a drink of water. So hooking it to something else can be a great way to actually remember to do that because it’s, that’s usually the hardest part”
I would be so hydrated. If I did that every time I checked my email, I would be so hydrated, it would probably be like floating down the road. It’s a great reminder, or a great tip to tie it to something that you do often, even checking your phone. That’s a great one too. We do that all the time. And if we took a sip of water, every time we did that, I’m sure the world would be completely undehydrated, super hydrated.
“My third tip is to get more movement in. So when I’m talking about the movement here, I’m not talking about exercise. I’m not talking about getting your heart rate up or your muscles burning, just moving our bodies are meant to move. They weren’t meant to sit all day, we probably noticed we get stiff, we don’t feel as good when we’re sitting our energy gets low, trying every hour to maybe just get up, walk around your house, or wherever you’re at doing a quick stretch.”
“Even just reaching your hands up and almost doing like a mini backbend can be really energizing, it makes up that spine. You could even get up and do 10 squats or just get up and walk and talk to someone else. And just a side note here, this movement is also really great for your metabolism. So if you’re looking to lose weight, just getting more movement helps to rev up that metabolism a little bit.”
Good reminders of stairs. We have three flights of stairs in our house. If I actually enjoyed going up and down the stairs, then that would be a great exercise for sure.
Yeah, yeah, I don’t know if anyone quite enjoys it. But that would be definitely a good way to just get that quick little thing in.
“And so my next tip is actual exercise here. So this time I am talking about muscles burning or getting that heart rate up. And you can keep it simple here. If you don’t currently exercise, start with five minutes, maybe work up to 10, it doesn’t have to be a super long workout. So personally, I pretty much never workout more than 30 minutes, some days I do 10 Some days I do 20. It’s just staying consistent with that. But when we exercise, and you get over that initial hump of oh, I don’t want to do that.”
“And that dread. That is a hump. But once you get over that, that exercise is actually going to make you feel better and you almost crave it because it has released feel-good hormones and endorphins in your body. So I really liked doing strength training or yoga that has strength training, because that’s going to build your muscles. And this also gives your metabolism a boost.”
And you don’t even have to get sweaty to do that, too. So if you’re doing something in the middle of your day it can be a great way to not get super sweaty and be able to go back to working or whatever you’re doing.”
I love strength training. I can’t wait until I can get back to it in the spring. And I’m super excited. I shouldn’t be doing it now. But because I haven’t done it. I’m not allowed to do it now. The whole pregnancy thing I can’t wait to get back to it. It truly changes like I think more than your muscles. I feel like lifting weights changes your mind. I don’t know if it just reset something in your mind. And I have no idea what it is you probably do have hopefully.
“I think it just gives you the confidence to like when you just like, feel stronger. And like you can pick up your kid and not feel like you’re dying. I think it’s just it gives you competence along with a ton of Link health benefits for your bone and muscle mass as you age.
So my last tip and this one is more about increasing your motivation. I’m going to talk about willpower here. And so I want you to think of your willpower as a battery. So when you’re stressed, you’re probably not going to make good choices like you might go grab that bag of chips or a candy bar.
So when our willpower battery is drained, we just go back to what we naturally do and we don’t make good choices if we don’t make these new habits that we’re wanting to try. So if you’re overwork, if you are overwhelmed, if you overexercise, if you over diet, or if you have kids your willpower battery is probably getting drained. So you have to think of ways that you are going to recharge this battery. So for me personally, going outside always makes me feel better.
And I don’t necessarily have to do anything out there. I like to just go for a walk. And this for me, Paul’s mortar, the movement. So sometimes I’m not necessarily going to get an exercise walk. But a lot of times I just go for a gentle walk outside and I just feel better or something’s going on. I like to journal and work through that. Yoga has been really helpful to me because I get my workout. And I also do deep breathing, which just relaxes me and I can get that all in one.
So really looking for you. It may be completely different for me what recharges my battery. But if you are feeling overwhelmed, overworked, really figuring out what you can do to recharge that battery, so that you can have more motivation as you maybe go to do some of these other steps.
I love that. And I love those suggestions like journaling when you’re fumbling around in your mind, that is a great tip. Because I think a lot of us just push through and then it’s not only I don’t know, if I might be just me, but once you like, push through something that you’re like, mentally dealing with, it just makes everything else worse. Everything that comes after it is either, insurmountable or like, it’s just so much harder.
Yeah, it’s all those micro stressors like adding up and yeah, I’m like a feeling and stuffer. So that’s how I grew up, oh, you’re fine, you’re fine. I have over the years read different books and worked on different things. And I have to really write down what I’m feeling because I don’t acknowledge it. But if I like to work through it, then it’s so much better. And I can let that go or figure out whatever thing I needed to solve that I wasn’t aware of.
Very good. These have been amazing tips. And I hope that they help transform your life and just help you to really get that motivation back. And I am looking forward to getting mine back at some point as well. I will be on the same train. And I’ll be using these tips in order to do that. So I truly appreciate you being here. Michelle, is there any last tidbit that you want to share with the audience?
Yeah, just going back to what I said at the beginning. But remember, start with just one tip, and see how that works out for you. If it’s good, stick with it till you’re competent. And you can add something else. Or if you’re like it’s not working, go on to trying something else. And when you’re picking something, you want to pick what you think is going to be most beneficial, and that you’re 90% Sure you’re going to do.
“So if it doesn’t fit those two things, then maybe pick something else to start with. Yeah, and I also have a five-day core challenge that is only five minutes a day. So if you’re looking to just get something quick to get started, that’s on my freebie page on my website. And that can be a great place to start.
Awesome. We’ll put that link in the show notes. So then that way we can all have amazing abs in a few months. So I’m looking forward to it.
Thank you so much for being here and sharing your amazing expertise and helping us to be healthier.
“Thank you so much for having me.”
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